


A Standing Ending

by Astronut



Category: Star Wars Legends: New Jedi Order Series - Various Authors, Star Wars Legends: X-Wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-11-02 01:05:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20569364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astronut/pseuds/Astronut
Summary: A coda to Rebel StandGavin Darklighter confronts Blackmoon Eleven after the battle





	A Standing Ending

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Downtime in 2006
> 
> Please do not repost without permission.

**A Standing Ending**

As his cockpit whined opened, Gavin yanked off his helmet. Sweat had plastered his greying hair to his forehead. _I probably earned a few more grey hairs today_. 

The hanger buzzed with activity. Many squadrons were missing fighters. Some probably had hitched a ride on the _Errant_ _Ventur_e or the _Rebel Dream_ or one of the other large ships at Borleias. Others were too damaged to recover, their pilots ejecting before the critical blow. Most were now gone, free-floating hydrogen. _So many bright young lives snuffed. So many of my pilots gone. _Gavin swung down from his X-Wing, not bothering to wait for a tech with a ladder. His knees tinged with the shock of impact. _I’m getting old._

Mourning would have to wait until the dead were tallied. It would take a while for Command to contact all of the fleet ships, until then just how many people had lost their lives would be unknown. Wedge probably already knew the rough estimates. Gavin had great respect for his commanding officer’s ability to take every death to heart with out letting it crush him. _If every officer in every army did that, there would be no war._ _Although, there is some question as to whether Vong _have_ hearts._

Heroes, however, would be celebrated now. Techs milled about the returning fighters, offering hearty congratulations to the survivors. Officers called debriefings over the whine of repulsorlifts while many pilots leaned silently against their craft, eyes closed, offering a silent prayer of thanks. Jaina Solo, the Trickster Goddess, received enthusiastic greetings from Jag Fel and Kyp Durron. Wes Janson offered Gavin a bright grin and began whistling, idly polishing a few plasma scorches off his X-Wing while eying a pretty brunette pilot. Mara could be seen dragging Luke off to some secluded corner. That brought a smile to Gavin’s face. _Mara is good for that farmboy. Keeps him from brooding too much._

Among the chaos of the hanger bay, Gavin was unable to find his target. The evac shuttle had not yet arrived. _And when it does, I’m going to make sure Blackmoon Eleven is on KP duty from now until Tatoo I goes nova,_ Gavin thought, shaking his head. If the communications with the freighter Blackmoon Eleven had been escorting were to believed, the crazy kid had not only tried to take one skip squadron on by himself, he had done it after destroying a rakamat and almost a squadrons worth of skips. _The crew of that freighter is probably pulling my leg_. Lost in his thoughts, it took Gavin a moment to realize he had just run into his superior officer, Colonel Celchu. It took another moment to register the grim look on Tycho’s face. 

“Sorry, sir,” Gavin said. After a moment’s hesitation, he tried to lighten Tycho’s expression. “Are you alright, Tycho? You’re beginning to resemble Hobbie.” Immediately, Gavin knew he had said the wrong thing as he watched Tycho blink rapidly, fighting back tears. 

“What’s up boss?” Wes had approached unheard from behind Gavin. All the cheer displayed earlier was replaced with concern as he studied Tycho. 

“Wedge hasn’t checked in yet,” Tycho rasped. 

“I would check in late too if I had a wife as pretty as Iella,” commented Wes. “He’s probably in his quarters, taking a private moment before he has to deal with the aftermath. You should too. Give Winter a call.”

“You don’t understand, Wes. No one has heard from him since he signed out on Borleias. His shuttle hasn’t been seen. He’s gone.” 

With those words, Gavin’s heart plummeted as his stomach threatened to rise. _No! He can’t be gone. We won. We did it. He has survived so much, surely he survived this!_

Wes had frozen in place, his aging, baby-face features expressionless. Finally, he looked wildly around and spoke in a choked voice, “That’s not possible. He’s here somewhere, we just have to look harder. Have you checked with the Wraiths? I bet this is all some plot to get back at me for putting Kettch in his office last week. I knew I should have put it in his bed.” 

It pained Gavin to see his mentors like this; Tycho’s quite courage stripped to reveal raw emotions, Wes clinging to one last joke in hopes of denying the obvious. _He’s gone_. _Wedge is gone._

Seeing the tears begin to work their way down Tycho’s face broke Wes’s façade. Tears of his own were now flowing as gave Tycho an embrace, taking as much strength from it as he lent to Tycho. _I’m intruding. I’m mourning a mentor. They’re mourning a brother. _

“Excuse me, sirs,” a small voice broke in. “The bridge wanted me to inform the Colonel that everyone is on board and that we will jump to hyperspace in…” The lieutenant broke off as the _Mon Mothma_ shuddered. “…right now...” She looked a bit sheepish. 

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Dismissed.” Cold-faced Tycho was back; looking every bit the commanding officer, save for the lingering wet trails on his face. “Captain, Colonel, anything important to report?”

“No, sir. The Taanab Yellow Aces sustained causalities, but I need to debrief before making a full report.” Janson seemed to be recovering, although the usual mischievous glint in his eyes had disappeared. 

“Yes, sir. I need to debrief the Rogues, but we had an interesting situation with Blackmoon Eleven. It appears he escorted a freighter off Borleias, made several kills, and then tried to take on an entire squadron of skips by himself in a damaged X-Wing. I plan on recommending that he be commemorated for his bravery and be put on KP duty for a few months.” 

“An entire squadron, by himself? And he’s still alive?” Colonel Celchu raised a brow in skepticism. 

“Yes, sir. Took a couple of plasma hits before we got to him. The evac shuttle planned on towing him in.” Sure enough, before they had jumped to hyperspace, a Lambda shuttle had settled in the hanger next to the remains of an X-Wing. 

“Looks like they’re making New Republic L-Wings now.” A ghost of a smile crossed Gavin’s face at Wes’s attempted humor, but his was the only one. 

Colonel Celchu sighed. “Let’s get this over with. Might as well take care of the little problems before we attack the big ones.” 

_Before the Tycho has to replace Wedge_. 

Together, they approached Blackmoon Eleven. 

***

The X-Wing designated Blackmoon Eleven completely lacked S-Foils on one side. A larger hole was present in the nose cone, with several cracks extending over the forward view port. There was no astromech in the socket, which was just as well considering much of the socket was now twisted, melted metal. 

The techs pried open the cockpit with a screech as the officers reached the X-Wing, allowing a figure to slip out of the cockpit before the transparasteel shattered under the stress, showering the formerly occupied pilot seat. Gavin stopped short, not surprised by the raining transparasteel, but by the fact that instead of the expected protective orange flight suit, the pilot was merely dressed in a Starfighter Command day uniform of plain grey-blue. Incised by the pilot’s blatant disregard for the rules, Gavin barked, “What the Sith did you think you were doing? Your job involves keeping your squadron safe by sticking with them and keeping yourself safe by following protocols! Give me one good reason I shouldn’t have your six busted back to freighter duty!” 

Silence. Even the commotion in the hanger ceased. 

“Well?” Gavin pulled himself to his full high as he arrived along side Colonel Celchu, who had stopped been partially obscuring Gavin’s view of the nervous, young rookie pilot. It was then that Janson’s quiet chuckle reached his ears. 

“It appears I’ve also been neglecting my duty to discipline my subordinates. They seem to be operating under the impression that they are my superiors.” A Corellian grin tugged at the features of a very tired looking General Wedge Antilles. 

Gavin blinked. He opened his mouth slightly and then stopped. And blinked again. _That’s not possible._

“Then before you correct that oversight, I’m ordering you to never to scare us like that again!” Tycho glared at Wedge before pulling him into a crushing embrace. 

_But how? Where did the X-Wing come from? Where was the shuttle?_

“I assure you, my little joy-ride was not part of the plan.”

_Joy ride. Eleven skips and a rakamat. I should have known. _

“You had Tycho here so worried, I thought he was going to order the entire fleet back to Borleias after you.” Wes gave Wedge a back-pounding hug. 

_If Blackmoon Ten hadn’t wanted to go back…_

“And you weren’t?” Wedge playfully inquired. 

“Nah. I was just worried that Kettch’s dress uniform wouldn’t fit him. I’d hate for his liking of sunfruit to get in the way of his attending your funeral.” 

Wedge gave Wes his best Offended Officer Look. “I suggest you oversee the correction of that problem and inform him that if he is caught in my office again he will have bathing suit duty.” 

_…he probably would have just racked up some more kills. Greatest pilot ever. At least I got that right. _

Wes came to attention and saluted. “Yessir”

Wedge sighed, Janson’s salute reminding him of the duties at hand. “Any casualty reports yet?” he asked, looking to Tycho. 

“No sir, just preliminary. You probably can estimate the numbers as well as I can. We’re outbound for Rattachuk where rest of the fleet will check in before we move on to the rendezvous. Squadron commanders are debriefing and the techs estimate they can have our fighter force to thirty percent strength in four hours and the _Mon Mothma_ up to seventy-five percent strength in eight. If we get pulled out of hyper, we should be in good shape to fight back. I was going to schedule an Insiders meeting in two hours, but I can put that off for a few hours if you’d like.” 

_Sith. I called my commanding officer ‘Son’. And demanded that he ‘sir’ me. On an open channel. I’m doomed. _

“Please do, and good work.” Wedge clapped his hand on Tycho’s shoulder. “Now, what are the chances Iella hasn’t missed me yet?” 

Tycho winced. “She noticed your shuttle wasn’t back before I did. She’s coordinating intelligence both onboard and with the rest of the fleet half in hope of finding you.” 

“Better make that meeting tomorrow. It’s nothing that can’t wait until we have more data to analyze, and I have a lot of apologizing to do. Captain Janson, I suggest if you don’t see me by tomorrow that you get Kettch’s dress uniform in order. He’ll need it.” Wes grinned, while Tycho patted Wedge’s should sympathetically. “Dismissed.”

Gavin finally found his voice. “Sir, it’s good to see you, sir. I’m sorry about earlier, sir. I thought…” Gavin trailed off as Wedge began laughing. 

“Colonel, if you ever develop rank in proportion to your disciplinary skills, some day they’ll make you a fleet officer.”


End file.
